Inside Out Tours presents the Greenlight Poetry Slam
Thursday, June 24, 7:30 PM

Award-winning Brooklyn-based company Inside Out Tours leads visitors and local residents to great cultural experiences "off the beaten path" in Brooklyn's vibrant and diverse neighborhoods. Inside Out not only leads you to exciting destinations, they also create destinations, including Greenlight’s new poetry slam series on the last Thursday of every month this summer. Join us to hear some great performance poets, and sign up to take the stage and compete in the slam for prizes and glory.

Host Mo Beasley is an award-winning Brooklyn performance poet, spoken word artist, published playwright, educator, and recording artist. He has featured at legendary stages from the Blue Note to the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and teaches performance poetry to high school students. Spoken word artists Alejandro Thompson and Alvin James will be among the poets slamming this evening; the slam is open to performers of all ages and will follow standard three-round rules. The first prize is a free tour with Inside Out, and runners-up will receive poetry books from Greenlight Bookstore.

There's something in the air at the Brooklyn Public Library and it just might be the sweet smell of success.

Every year, the library's business center joins forces with the Citi Foundation to award more than $25,000 to Brooklyn entrepreneurs.

In this power up program, the business model is important as is the winners' commitment to the borough.

"They have a dream of the type of business they would like to start. Frequently, they employ other people. But most importantly they really are contributing to their own success and to that of the community," said Maud Andrew Quintana of the Brooklyn Public Library.

The first winner seven years ago now employs 35 people. And this year's winner of the $15,000 grand prize has similar plans.

Stacey Toussaint of Inside Out Tours says she plans to expand the number of tours her company conducts of Brooklyn cultural hot spots.

"With the prize money that we've won we will focus on hiring sales and tourism staff and also just really going out there and selling our product," Toussaint said.

The two runners up received $5,000 each to develop their businesses.

Evelyn Oliver says she will use the money to expand her organic Bed-Stuy grocery store.

"The first year we're hoping to hire two employees and as the business progresses we hope to hire more. And within our second year we will provide a full health care package to our employees," Oliver said.

The other $5,000 winner is Vandra Thorbum, whose Vokashi Kitchen Waste System makes discarded food compost-ready with a quick, totally odorless fermentation process.

The Brooklyn Public Library and Citi Foundation conduct the Power Up business search each year.

For those looking to get a jump start on a business of their own, the next contest begins in March.

On Tuesday, January 12, Brooklyn Public Library's Business Library (BPL) announced the winners of its sixth annual PowerUP! Business Plan Competition. Thanks to the generosity of Citi Foundation, the sole sponsor of PowerUP!, the first place winner received $15,000 and the two runners-up received $5,000. A package of services worth $5,000 will also be awarded to all three top entrepreneurs. An additional $3,750 was also awarded amongst six other merit award and honorable mention winners.

Organic Bed-Stuy will offer quality food at affordable prices to a neighborhood that lacks enough healthy food choices.

Earning merit awards ($750 each) was Park Slope resident Gregory Fanslau and Laura Werts for their business idea, 86 List, a networking and job posting website for the NYC restaurant business; Camille Newman of Canarsie for Pop Up Plus – pop-up stores for plus size women; and Simeon Doytchinov of Marine Park for NCS Enterprises, Inc., a software company which offers a multi-dimensional reporting application.

Earning honorable mentions ($500 each) was Bridget Goldsmith of Flatbush for Coconut Expressions, a coconut milk based ice cream products made with all natural ingredients; Patrick Guglielmo and Eric J. Snyder of Clinton Hill for Mama’s Boys Café and Collectibles, a neighborhood café; and Emily Morgan of Boerum Hill for KinderKALENDARS, a manufacturer and distributor of bilingual day-at-a-time wall calendars specifically designed for young children who speak English as a second language.

To date, more than $125,000 in prize money has been awarded by the program’s sponsor, Citigroup. Applications for the 2010 PowerUP! competition and workshop series will be accepted this spring.See below for a list of merit and honorable mention winners.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said at the BPL’s Business Library event, “112 is the zip that’s hip.”

The three Power Up! winners a program that celebrates and rewards the entrepreneurial spirit of Brooklynites and enhances the vitality of the local business community.

The Winners

The winners, also identified by neighborhood and zip code, are as follows:

The Grand Prize ($15,000) went to Inside Out Tours, with Stacey Toussaint and Sheila Collins proprietors (Prospect Heights 11238). Inside Out Tours will offer “off the beaten path” cultural walking and bus tours of Brooklyn designed to give visitors an intimate look at the artistic, social and cultural diversity of the borough. The company’s mission is to bring tourist dollars to local communities, as well as to introduce visitors and residents alike to the history and vitality of Brooklyn.

There were two Second Place winners ($5,000 each), as follows:

• Vokashi Kitchen Waste, with Vandra Thorburn proprietor (Prospect Heights 11238), a simple, natural solution to disposing of kitchen refuse. This firm will give residential households and small catering companies the tools to recycle their food waste — primarily, a product that quickly ferments discarded food and distributes it to composting sites where it becomes organic soil. The process is natural and easy and sure to appeal to Brooklyn’s eco-friendly residents.

• Organic Bed-Stuy, with Evelyn Oliver and Darell Brown proprietors (Bed-Stuy 11216). Organic Bed-Stuy is an organic grocery store that will offer quality food at affordable prices to a neighborhood that lacks enough healthy food choices. Through an agreement with a farm in New Jersey, the store will offer appealing fresh and local produce and, focusing on the cultural make up of Bed-Stuy, will offer recipes and dietary information. Supported by an advisory board of food consultants committed to making healthy food an option, this venture is sure to become a much needed fixture in the neighborhood.

The three Merit Award winners (receiving $750 each) are:

• 86 List, Gregory Fanslau and Laura Werts, proprietors (Park Slope, 11215), a networking and job posting website for the NYC restaurant business.

• Pop Up Plus, Camille Newman proprietor (Canarsie, 11236), a series of pop-up stores for plus size women. • NCS Enterprises Inc., with Simeon Doytchinov proprietor (Marine Park, 11229), a software company which offers a multi-dimensional reporting application.

Finally, there were three Honorable Mention awards ($500 each), as follows:

• Coconut Expressions, with Bridget Goldsmith proprietor (Flatbush, 11225), offering coconut milk-based ice cream products made with all natural ingredients.

• Mama’s Boys Café and Collectibles, with Patrick Guglielmo and Eric Snyder proprietors (Clinton Hill, 11238), a neighborhood café that will offer a place to relax filled with vintage antique collectibles that are not only decorative, but are for sale. (They are currently looking for space on Myrtle Avenue in Clinton Hill.)

• KinderKalendars, with Emily Morgan proprietor (Beorum Hill, 11217), a manufacturer and distributor of bilingual day-at-a-time wall calendars specifically designed for young children who speak English as a second language.

“With unemployment up to 25 percent in some areas of Brooklyn, those looking to start their own businesses need support now more than ever,” said Maud Andrew, BPL Business Library’s programs and outreach manager. “In addition to the $25,000 in prize money, the winners will be given $5,000 in business assistance services to help them turn their dreams into successful companies.

To date, more than $125,000 in prize money has been awarded by the program’s sponsor, Citigroup. Applications for the 2010 competition and workshops will be accepted this spring.

For more information, please visit http://brooklynpubliclibrary.org/business/powerup/.

— Compiled by Linda Collins Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Inside Out Tours just won the top prize and $15,000 from the Brooklyn Public Library’s annual PowerUP! competition for entrepreneurs. The tours ain’t exactly Brokelyn-cheap ($30+), but how many times have you walked by an old brownstone and wondered if it was a stop on the Underground Railroad (or had no idea)? And we really want to know what’s on that after-dark tour.

You can visit Brooklyn, or you can experience it.

That’s the premise of Inside Out Tours, a company specializing in treks to the borough’s often overlooked neighborhoods.

Stacey Toussaint and Sheila Collins, Brooklyn natives, developed walking and bus tours that explore neighborhoods such as Crown Heights, Bensonhurst and Bedford-Stuyvesant. The tours combine samplings of ethnic food and visits to art galleries, Underground Railroad sites and houses of worship.

Last week, Inside Out Tours won first place and $15,000 from the Brooklyn Public Library’s PowerUP! program, a competition to award seed money to promising Brooklyn businesses.

“We felt that people didn’t know about all the treasures Brooklyn has,” Toussaint said. “Our tour takes people off the beaten path. It’s one of our distinguishing factors and we thought that could be a competitive advantage over the big red buses that just go through Brooklyn as a segue.”

The women, both 35, not only know their borough, they know how to get things done.

Toussaint, a securities lawyer, and Collins, a marketing executive, passed the city’s licensed tour guide exam and tapped community resources such as the PowerUP! program.

When the duo rated an honorable mention in the contest last year, they bolstered their business plan. They formed an LLC, created a Web site, and added community partners and a charity tie-in.

In the contest, the judges look for people “keen about their businesses … that are an expression of Brooklyn,” said Maud Andrew, the library’s program manager.

Toussaint said they’ll use the prize money to launch a business-to-business marketing plan, targeting groups such as tour operators, schools and social clubs.